Margaret’s 40 years service award at M&S

A Milngavie Marks & Spencer employee celebrated 40 years of service with an exclusive champagne reception at the their London headquarters.

Margaret Brady (64) started her career at M&S in 1975, when bell-bottom jeans were all the rage and curly perms adorned hairdresser’s windows.

Now, forty years on, Margaret is amongst the longest serving employees at one of Britain’s best loved retailersMargaret started her career at the M&S Marble Arch store in London.

And it was M&S reputation for looking after its staff which initially encouraged Margaret to apply for a job.

Margaret said: “At the time, everyone knew M&S was a good place to be. They had a hairdresser, doctor and even a chiropodist available for staff. I applied and got an interview straight away.”

On starting at M&S, Margaret spent two years in the kidswear department before she took an interest in accounts where her responsibilities included managing the store’s accounts and petty cash, and making sure the books balanced at the end of each day.

Margaret said: “I loved handling the cash and doing the balances at the end of the day. I always got a huge sense of satisfaction knowing that everything added up. Everyone in my team got on really well together and our office just had a lovely atmosphere!”

Despite working in a team of just eight people, Margaret got to know all the staff in the store.

She continued: “Everyone made their way to the cash office at one point or another. Staff came in to pick up wage slips and collect petty cash. It was a fantastic way of seeing my colleagues from the five floors of the store.”

Margaret’s work in the cash office was dependent on basic calculator machines such as ‘Plus Adders’ but as technology evolved M&S started using computers.

When the computers first came into the office Margaret was petrified to use them! However she says they did make life a lot easier and once they got used to them, they couldn’t do without them.